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Taine, Hippolyte, 1828-1893

"The French Revolution - Volume 3"

Consequently, to prevent all deviations, the State, absolute
master, exercises unlimited jurisdiction; no freedom whatever is left
to the individual, no portion of himself is reserved to himself, no
sheltered corner against the strong hand of public force, neither his
possessions, his children, his personality, his opinions or his
conscience.[3] If, on voting days, he shares in the sovereignty, he is
subject all the rest of the year, even to his private sentiments.
Rome, to serve these ends, had two censors. One of the archons of
Athens was inquisitor of the faith. Socrates was put to death for not
believing in the gods in which the city believed.[4] - In reality, not
only in Greece and in Rome, but in Egypt, in China, in India, in
Persia, in Judea, in Mexico, in Peru, during the first stages of
civilization,[5] the principle of human communities is still that of
gregarious animals: the individual belongs to his community the same
as the bee to its hive and the ant to its ant-hill; he is simply an
organ within an organism. Under a variety of structures and in
diverse applications authoritative socialism alone prevails.
Just the opposite in modern society; what was once the rule has now
become the exception; the antique system survives only in temporary
associations, like that of an army, or in special associations, as in
a convent.


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